Genetics Selection Evolution

Didier Boichard

Didier Boichard is currently leading the Cattle Genetics and Genomics research group in the laboratory of Animal Genetics and Integrative Biology at INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) in Jouy-en-Josas.

His research is focused on dairy cattle genetics and breeding, particularly on the analysis of genetic variability of production and functional traits. He has managed the French national genetic evaluation for dairy cattle, sheep and goats and conducted projects for QTL detection and fine mapping. In 2002, in close collaboration with the French breeding industry, he implemented a large-scale marker-assisted selection programme, which has become a genomic selection programme since 2008.

Jack Dekkers

Jack Dekkers is professor and leader of the Animal Breeding and Genetics Section in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University (USA).

His areas of research are quantitative genetics and animal breeding with application to swine and poultry genetics, including the use of molecular genetic and genomic information, QTL detection, marker-assisted and genomic selection, design, optimization and economic aspects of breeding strategies, and genetic aspects of residual feed intake in pigs.

Helene Hayes

Helene Hayes is a researcher in the laboratory of Animal Genetics and Integrative Biology at INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) in Jouy-en-Josas.

Her main focus is animal cytogenetics with a special interest on cattle, goat, sheep and rabbit cytogenetic maps and comparative mapping. Since 2005, she dedicates half her time to the management of the journal Genetics Selection Evolution.

Julius Van Der Werf

Professor Julius van der Werf holds a PhD (1990) in Animal Breeding from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He moved to the University of New England (Armidale, Australia) in 1997, where he is now Professor in Animal Breeding and Genetics and Program Leader of Genetics in the Cooperative Research Center for Sheep Industry Innovation.

His research interests range from methodological issues on the estimation of genetic parameters (design and data structure, mixed models analysis, genetic evaluation models, random regression models) and genomic analysis (genomic prediction, genome wide association studies, design of experiments, models for genomic prediction, phasing and imputation) to applications for the optimization of animal breeding programs (breeding objectives, optimizing selection, optimizing, measurement, long and short term gains, genetic gain and genetic diversity, total genetic resource management).